兒童英語讀物《神奇樹屋》 第二冊 Knight At Dawn 08

9.月光下

杰克愣住了。

“是他。”安妮低聲說。

武士伸出戴著手套的手。

“走，杰克。”安妮說。

“你上哪兒去?”杰克問。

“他想幫助我們。”安妮說。

“你怎么知道?”

“我就是知道。”安妮說。

安妮向馬走去。騎士跳下馬來。

騎士抱起安妮，把她放在馬背上。

“來，杰克。”她叫喊著。

杰克慢慢地向騎士走去。這像是一場夢。

騎士也抱起他，把他放在馬背上，讓他坐在安妮的后面。

騎士坐在他們的后面。他猛甩一下韁繩。

月光照在護城河的水面上，黑馬在岸邊慢慢地跑著。

杰克在馬鞍上前后晃動。風吹拂著他的頭發(fā)。他感到特勇敢、特有勁。

他感到同這神秘的騎士在一起，他愿意騎著這匹馬就這樣永遠奔馳。跨越海洋，跑遍世界，奔向月亮。

一只鷹在黑暗中尖叫了一聲。

“樹屋在那邊。”安妮說。她指著一片樹林。

武士駕著馬向樹林跑去。

“看，那就是。”安妮說著，指著繩梯。

騎士讓馬停下來。他躍下馬，幫安妮下來。

“謝謝您，先生。”她說著，鞠了個躬。

接著是杰克，“謝謝您。”他說著，也鞠了躬。

騎士重新跨上馬背。他舉起戴手套的手，然后他猛拽韁繩，奔馳而去，消失在霧中。

安妮開始上繩梯，杰克緊跟其后。他們爬進漆黑的樹屋，探頭向窗外望去。

武士正朝著城堡的外墻馳騁。他們看見他進入外城門。

烏云又遮住了月亮。不到一會兒，杰克覺得自己看見了城堡后邊的小山頂上騎士的盔甲微微閃光。

烏云把月亮全部覆蓋，黑黑的霧吞沒了大地。

“他已經走了。”安妮咕噥著。

杰克渾身透濕，直打冷顫，同時他一直在注視著黑暗的四周。

“我冷。”安妮說，“那本賓夕法尼亞的書在哪兒?”

杰克聽見安妮在黑暗中摸索。他一直望著窗外。

“我想這本就是。”安妮說，“我摸到了絲綢書簽。”

杰克心不在焉地聽著，他希望能在遠處再看見那個騎士的盔甲微微的閃光。

“行，我就用這本書。”安妮說，“我想這本書正是那本書。我要開始了，好，

我指著書了，我準備許愿了，我希望我們能去蛙溪鎮(zhèn)!”

杰克聽見風吹了起來。開始很溫柔。

“我希望我指向了正確書中的正確的畫。”安妮說。

“什么?”杰克回頭看看她，“正確的書?正確的畫?”

樹屋開始搖晃。風越刮越猛，越刮越兇。

“我希望這不是那本恐龍書!”安妮說。

“停止!”杰克對著樹屋大叫。

太遲了。

樹屋開始打轉。轉得越來越快。

風在呼嘯。

然后突然間一切都平靜了。

絕對的平靜。

9 Under the Moon

Jack froze.

“It’s him，” Annie whispered.

The knight held out his gloved hand.

“Come on， Jack，” Annie said.

“Where are you going?” said Jack.

“He wants to help us，” said Annie.

“How do you know?”

“I can just tell，” said Annie.

Annie stepped toward the horse. The knight dismounted.

The knght picked Annie up and put her on the back of his horse.

“Come on， Jack，” she called.

Jack moved slowly toward the knight. It was like a dream.

The knight picked him up， too. He placed Jack on the horse， behind Annie.

The knight got on behind them. He slapped the reins.

The black horse cantered beside the moonlit water of the moat.

Jack rocked back and forth in the saddle. The wind blew his hair. He felt very brave and very powerful.

He felt as if he could ride forever on this horse， with this mysterious knight. Over the ocean. Over the world. Over the moon.

A hawk shrieked in the darkness.

“There’s the tree house，” said Annie. She pointed toward a grove of trees.

The knight steered the horse toward the trees.

“See. There it is，” Annie said， pointing to the ladder.

The knight brought his horse to a stop. He dismounted and helped Annie down.

“Thank you， sir，” she said. And she bowed.

Then Jack. “Thank you，” he said. And he bowed also.

The knight got back on his horse. He raised his gloved hand. Then he slapped the reins and rode off through the mist.

Annie started up the tall ladder， and Jack followed. They climbed into the dark tree house and looked out the window.

The knight was riding toward the outer wall. They saw him go through the outer gate.

Clouds started to cover the moon again. For a brief moment， Jack thought he saw the knight’s armor gleaming on the top of a hill beyond the castle.

The clouds covered the moon completely. And a black mist swallowed the land.

“He’s gone，” whispered Annie.

Jack shivered in his wet clothes as he kept staring at the blackness.

“I’m cold，” said Annie. “Where’s the Pennsylvania book?”

Jack heard Annie fumble in the darkness. He kept looking out the window.

“I think this is it，” said Annie. “I feel a silk bookmark.”

Jack was only half-listening. He was hoping to see the knight’　s armor gleam again in the distance.

“Okay. I’m going to use this，” said Annie. “Because I think it’s the right one. Here goes. Okay. I’m pointing. I’m going to wish.

I wish we could go to Frog Creek!”

Jack heard the wind begin to blow. Softly at first.

“I hope I pointed to the right picture in the right book，” said Annie.

“What?” Jack looked back at her. “Right picture? Right book?”

The tree house began to rock. The wind got louder and louder.

“I hope it wasn’t the dinosaur book!” said Annie.

“Stop!” Jack shouted at the tree house.

Too late.

The tree house started to spin. It was spinning and spinning!

The wind was screaming.

Then suddenly there was silence.

Absolute silence.